ADDevo
June 20, 2006
In this issue:
Feast of Weeks Bible Study
BLOG: Christian Origins:
The Lost Years of Jesus
BLOG: Haiti Adventure
ESSAYS: Sharon Purucker
Update on YAH Sar Shalom
Update on Elohymns
My Take on The DaVinci Code
Greetings to all Hebraic Roots talmidim!
YAH Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) is going well in Tallahassee.
Thank you for your prayers. We all met together on Pentecost in
Springfield, IL along with some of the remote branches. There we
attended a family wedding and regained face-to-face contact with
separated brothers and sisters (separated by space, but not time) –
what better way to celebrate COVENANT and FIRST FRUITS?
We see that Feast of Weeks / Pentecost / First Fruits / Shavuot /
Giving of the Torah is all about COVENANT. The Bible lesson below
entails the basics of the Feast. You’ll learn a lot if you follow
along. We might wonder why we are studying Weeks / Pentecost when in
is OVER. But the fact is, your offering of first fruits goes on
through the entire season until the Feast of Tabernacles. So we
might say Pentecost is not over when the Omer is counted, but when
the First Fruits are ready. As we prosper, as we harvest, we
continue to bring the first fruits, whenever they ripen.
Update on ELOHYMNS: To date, over 200 Sacred Name hymns and
choruses have been composed. Almost all the “lead sheets” are
completed, and now 15 complete orchestral arrangements have been
recorded by the Royal Klezmerines. The first Elohymns CD being
duplicated now and a few who have shown interest are receiving in
advance. ELOHYMNS are all new worship songs, translated directly
out of Scripture (mostly the Psalms), arranged in an original
“Judaic / Oriental” (Klezmer) style with full instrumentation. The
Assembly at Tallahassee uses Elohyms exclusively in our services of
praise and worship. You may see most of the work at
www.elohymns.com and
download some sample arrangements in MP3 format from www.yahpop.us.
I started a new BLOG on Christian Origins. The first installment is
entitled The Lost Years of “Jesus.” You may find the essay
at
www.xanga.com/klakster.
Here is a short excerpt:
There’s a curious quote in Scripture I’d like to share with you
found in John 1:30. It’s the spoken word of John the Baptist as he
refers to Jesus; John says, “After me cometh a man which is
preferred before me: for he was before me.” When I was learning to
translate, I started with this chapter. This verse works out
literally as, “A man comes after me who has become ahead of me
for he was my first.” Think of that for a moment. John
says of Jesus, “He was my first.” Could John be saying that Jesus
was his first disciple, and that he advanced above his
teacher? Let’s explore that possibility.
Phil Snyder of GLOW Ministries is also BLOGGING HAITI ADVENTURES at
www.philsnyder.typepad.com.
When I was a
little kid, I had a disturbing dream about my great grandfather
Philip. In my dream I saw him lying in a field next to our house.
His hands were raised above the weeds, reaching out for help. We
could not approach him. In the real world he passed away within a
few short weeks. It was a bit haunting to me, I might have been 9 or
10 years old, but it forced me to have an open mind towards
prophetic gifts.
Sharon Purucker provides us with a couple very good foundational
lessons on the use of the Sacred Name. Her areticles are linked in
the right column on
www.Yahpop.us. If you want an easy-to-understand testimonial to
the power of Yahweh / Yahshua, read these articles and use them with
your children in your home religious training.
DaVINCI CODE: We attended a showing of Dan Browne’s movie The
DaVinci Code yesterday. The big controversy in the movie is
about ancient texts, art and symbols pointing to the possibility
that Yahshua was married to Magdalene, who was, at the time of the
crucifixion, pregnant. The movie (and legend) continues with
Magdalene moving to France where a child of Yahshua’s blood was
born: the ancestor of a line of people alive today throughout
Europe. The Roman Church’s secret society “Opus Dei” has kept
the truth from leaking out and destroying Christianity through the
last two Millennia by killing off as many of Mary’s blood relatives
as they could find.
This Jesus / Europe connection that the novel is based upon
certainly isn’t a new theory. Long before the DaVinci Code,
investigative reporters Baigent, Lee and Lincoln wrote an exhaustive
book on the subject (Holy Blood, Holy Grail). In fact, these
authors recently lost a law suit against Dan Browne.
Similarly, the ancient texts that are introduced as proving
Yahshua’s marriage, namely the Gospel of Philip and the
Gospel of Thomas, are available to anyone free of charge and
should already be well known in the Church. (There does in fact
seem to be an ongoing conspiracy against anything ancient that is
not in the Bible.) I translated portions of many of these ancient
gospels and writings in 1990 - and you can read everything “Jesus”
supposedly said in them on my site
www.jacksonsnyder.com/sss .
However, it would be more productive to read portions of the Dead
Sea Scrolls – texts that Yahshua actually knew and may have had
a hand in writing. Some are surely written by and about Yahshua’s
brother Ya’aqov (James, as in The Epistle of James).
Non-fictitious writings like the Scrolls as well as those of
ancient historians who lived contemporaneously with Yahshua make it
fairly certain (to many real scholars) that Yahshua was never
married nor sired children. His sect and level of priesthood (the
Enochan Melchizedek Priesthood aka the Nazorean Priesthood)
would require him to renounce family ties, as we see he did
in Mark 3:31 ff. Furthermore, the Bible, especially the Old
Testament, makes it clear that, by the Law of Yahweh, Yahshua’s
marrying would be illegal in the eyes of the establishment
(Deuteronomy 23:2, John 9:29. More of this if you ask, or read
Chilton’s article at
www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Chilton_Mamzer_Jesus_Birth.htm.)
Anyway, the historic viewpoints expressed in the DaVinci
Code movie are quite accurate, including the movie’s dialog
about the authorship of the creed, the Bible and the doctrines of
Christian Orthodoxy. (Remember that the compiler and editor of the
Bible was Constantine I, pagan Emperor of Rome.) As for the movie,
most Christians will not have the foggiest notion of what’s going on
anyway, so unfamiliar with church history they are. Amein?
FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS / PENTECOST / GIVING OF THE LAW - Part
One.
Exodus 24:12 Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain.
Stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the law and the
commandment, which I have written for their instruction."
16. The glory (radiance) of Yahweh rested on Mount Sinai and the
cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day Yahweh called to
Moses from inside the cloud.
17. To the watching Israelites, the glory of Yahweh looked like a
devouring fire on the mountain top.
18. Moses went right into the cloud and went on up the mountain.
Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 31:18. When he had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,
he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony (or Covenant), tablets
of stone inscribed by the ______________ of Elohim.
Forty is special in Scripture. How many instances of this number
can you remember? Forty is the number of testing (Matthew 4:1-2).
While Moses and _________ were upon the mountain, what were some of
the things some of the Israelites below were doing during their 40
days of testing? (Check Exodus 32:1-8)
How did Yahweh respond to what the Israelites had done? (Exodus
32:9-10)
What was he going to do with the whole people?
What was he going to do with Moses and his family?
What did Moses then ask Yahweh to do? (Exodus 32:11-13)
And what then did Yahweh do as a response to Moses’ speech?
(Exodus 32:14)
Do you remember what became of the two tablets of the Testimony?
What did Moses then do according to Exodus 34:1-5?
What name was pronounced and why?
Let’s go back to Leviticus 23 and look at how the feast of Pentecost
(First-fruits, Shavuot, Weeks) came to be. “Pentecost” is a Greek
word that means “Fiftieth.” It comes from the Greek version
(Septuagint) of the Hebrew Scriptures of
Leviticus 23:15 & 16: 15. From the day after the Sabbath, the day on
which you bring the sheaf of offering (that is, the Sunday after the
Passover), you will count seven full weeks. 16. You will count
fifty days, to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then you
will offer Yahweh a new cereal offering.
QUIZ: If we were to bring a cereal offering today, which cereal
would be most appropriate?
A) Cheerios, B) Frankenberry, C) Cream of Wheat, D)
Honey Clusters of Oats?
So fifty days from the Sunday after Passover, Yahweh proclaims an
observance. What were you doing on Pentecost this year?
Pentecost is traditionally considered to be a remembrance of the
giving of the Law of Yahweh at Mount _________ . Although there’s
no real justification for celebrating the Law now, however tradition
may have some foundation in Scripture. Look at Exodus 19:1-8
1. Three months to the day after leaving Egypt, the Israelites
reached the desert of Sinai. 2. Setting out from Rephidim, they
reached the desert of Sinai and pitched camp in the desert; there,
facing the mountain, Israel pitched camp. 3. Moses then went up to
Elohim, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, "Say
this to the House of Jacob! Tell the Israelites, 4. 'You have seen
for yourselves what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you
away on eagle's wings and brought you to me. 5. So now, if you are
really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you, out of all
peoples, shall be my personal possession, for the whole world is
mine. 6. For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.'
Those are the words you are to say to the Israelites." 7. So Moses
went and summoned the people's elders and acquainted them with
everything that Yahweh had bidden him, 8. and the people all replied
with one accord, "Whatever Yahweh has said, we will do." Moses then
reported to Yahweh what the people had said.
This is what a covenant is all about. One person says he/she will
do something under certain conditions, and the other party agrees.
EASTON’S: a contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old
Testament the Hebrew word berith (b’rit) is always
thus translated. B’rit is derived from a root which means "to cut,"
and hence a covenant is a "cutting," with reference to the cutting
or dividing of animals into two parts, and the contracting parties
passing between them, in making a covenant (Gen. 15; Jer. 34:18,
19).
RIDDLE: Suppose I told you that “ish” means “man” in
Hebrew. What group of islands in Europe would the “covenant man”
inhabit?
The Bible and our faith are all about COVENANTS between Yahweh and
Creation. There are many covenants in the Bible, and we will study
some later. Here, though, Yahweh promises an exceedingly great
blessing if the Israelites will obey the statutes of the covenant.
What does Israel do in verse 8 to “seal the deal”?
Now remember the 40 days of testing while Moses was on the
mountain. Did the Israelites keep their end of the Covenant? And
again, what happened? Is the covenant still in force because of the
Israelite’s acts? Why or why not?
Back to the Law and the 50 days. Exodus 19:1 says it was 3 months,
not 50 days, after Israel leaving captivity that the Law was given.
RIDDLE: How can we reconcile 50 days with 3 months? (Hint:
Literally, Exodus 19:1 says, On the third new moon after the
people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt . . .”)
End Feast of Weeks Part One
Father Yahweh, hallowed be thy name. May your will be done on earth
as in Heaven for the sake of our Savior, Yahshua the Anointed Son.
Amein.
FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS / PENTECOST / GIVING OF THE LAW - Part Two.
Exodus 19:9. Yahweh then said to Moses, "Look, I shall come to you
in a dense cloud so that the people will hear when I speak to you
and believe you ever after." Moses then told Yahweh what the people
had said. 10. Yahweh then said to Moses, "Go to the people and tell
them to sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. They must wash their
clothes 11. and be ready for the day after tomorrow; for the day
after tomorrow, in the sight of all the people, Yahweh will descend
on Mount Sinai. 12. You will mark out the limits of the mountain and
say, `Take care not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of
it. Anyone who touches the mountain will be put to death. 13. No one
may lay a hand on him: he must be stoned or shot by arrow; whether
man or beast, he shall not live.' When the ram's horn sounds a long
blast, they must go up the mountain." 14. So Moses came down from
the mountain to the people; he made the people sanctify themselves
and they washed their clothes. 15. He then said to the people, "Be
ready for the day after tomorrow; do not touch a woman."
Last time we spoke of the meaning of Covenant. In the times of
Abraham, a covenant was sealed by the parties coming together
face-to-face, making the agreement, then as a sign and remembrance,
walking between the pieces of valuable animals. The important thing
is that a _____________ was not made by distant parties, but face to
face sealed with a sign.
Remember this passage?
Exodus 19:7. So Moses went and summoned the people's elders and
acquainted them with everything that Yahweh had bidden him, 8. and
the people all replied with one accord, "Whatever Yahweh has said,
we will do." Moses then reported to Yahweh what the people had said.
When Israel with one voice said that whatever Yahweh wanted them to
do they would do, Yahweh set the terms of his personal appearance
and sign. He would “come down” and, though they would not see him,
they would hear his voice as a sign of the covenant. But before
this could happen, there were certain conditions that the Israelites
had to meet beforehand.
First, they had to be perfectly clean. They had to sanctify
themselves. They had to become “qidosh” – an important Hebrew root
meaning “set apart” from the rest, or “shining forth” from the
rest.
The usual English translation is “holy.” We understand from the
root what is required to hear the voice of Yahweh – cleanliness and
brightness – as exemplified also in Yahweh’s command that the
Israelites wash their clothes. Almost as an afterthought, the men
are reminded “not to touch a woman.” This was meant to prohibit the
men from any pollution of bodies or clothing with BLOOD. “A woman”
is not dirty; neither is the business of man and wife. However,
fornication (immorality) of any kind, a major activity in that (and
any) society, was going to be named as a mortal sin (in the
next chapter); and any kind of intimacy, legal or not, is a
mingling of blood and therefore unclean by Yahweh’s standards.
Aside: Is it wrong to be unclean? Is it a sin to be unclean? Is
it a sin to be dirty? Answer: NO. It is impossible to be clean all
the time. What do I mean when I say, “Those who have bathed need
only to wash their hands.”
[This would be a good time to discuss John 15 – “The Vine” or John
13 - “The Foot Washing,” especially verse 10 Yahshua said to
[Kefa], "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his
feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every
one of you." ]
In this case, for Yahweh to make his appearance, everyone had to be
completely clean.
Second, the Israelites were to be ready on the third day.
This has to do with not only a physical presence, but a mental state
of expectancy. One person with a great expectancy can bring
forth the miraculous, but a group of people expectantly awaiting the
presence of the Set-apart Spirit (the spirit ha qadosh) will
certainly accomplish what they expect.
Thirdly, there were grave penalties for going beyond the limits set
by Yahweh (that is, up) unless one was fully prepared. Moses
had know Yahweh for years and had been up the mountain several times
– maybe hundreds of times. He had to ascend step by step.
What this means:
1) a person cannot follow the ordinances of Yahweh unless
he/she learns them, and he/she can’t learn them unless they
are introduced. Yahweh will introduce Torah (instruction) in the
next chapter. In the New Testament, those experienced in Torah
observance didn’t expect new believers to fully practice the sayings
of Yahweh until they had learned them (Acts 15:19-21). However,
Yahweh expects that a covenant believer will learn and
eventually go up. (Ascending and descending are very
important themes for believers and biblical literature.)
2) the implication is that a new or inexperienced believer
needs a teacher. (Paul said, “How would I know sin if the
Ordinances of Yahweh had not taught me?”) The Torah is a teacher,
but the believer MUST seek out the presence of Yahweh in time, else
there will be no way to know who is a valid teacher and
when a teacher is no longer necessary. Scriptures takes up the
theme of false teachers all throughout because there are false
teachers everywhere.
(There are three good logical measures of a valid teacher. 1.
He/she teaches the Torah of Yahweh; 2. He/she teaches that Yahshua
is the son and counterpart of Yahweh; 3. He/she teaches that the
baptism, gifts and powers of the Set-apart (Holy) Spirit are
available to us today. Notice: 1. is the Father; 2. is the Son; 3.
is the Holy Spirit.)
Eventually, the trumpet will sound and all those who
are clean and expectant will ascend the mountain.
3) desiring, expecting or seeking spiritual, mountaintop
experiences from any other source but Yahweh is mortal (unto death)
sin. In the context of the Feast of First fruits, Yahweh strongly
advises us with these words:
Deuteronomy 18:9. ‘When you have entered the country given you by
Yahweh your Elohim, you must not learn to imitate the detestable
practices of the nations there already. 10. There must never be
anyone among you who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire
of sacrifice, who practices divination, who is soothsayer, augur or
sorcerer, 11. weaver of spells, consulter of ghosts or mediums, or
necromancer. 12. For anyone who does these things is detestable to
Yahweh your God; it is because of these detestable practices that
Yahweh your Elohim is driving out these nations before you.
What are some other names you have learned for the Shavuot and what
does each signify?
Where can Yahweh’s holidays be found in the Bible?
END PART II
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